Low power consumption disk player

Abstract: The frequency of an oscillation output of a VCO (88) is controlled in accordance with a servo error signal obtained from a spindle servo signal processor (18), and such oscillation output is supplied as a system clock signal to a DSP (10). Meanwhile, a phase comparator (92) detects the phase difference between an output of a 1/M frequency divider (91) relative to the oscillation output and an output of a 1/N frequency divider (93) relative to a reference clock signal, and the rotation speed of a disk (1) is controlled on the basis of the detected phase difference. A desired reproduction speed is settable by adequately selecting the respective frequency division ratios of the 14/M frequency divider (91) and the 1/N frequency divider (93), and a play mode is switched to, e.g., 2-fold speed reproduction upon occurrence of a track jump caused during a 1-fold speed play mode by any external disturbance such as shock.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a disk player for reproducing recorded audio data from a digital audio disk such as CD (Compact Disc) or MD (Mini Disc) (hereinafter referred to as disk), and more particularly to a disk player wherein the audio data reproduced from a disk are once stored in a bulk memory of a large capacity and then are read out therefrom to be outputted. And the invention further relates to a servo system for use in such a disk player. In disk players inclusive of CD players, there is known a shock-proof type the construction of which is so contrived that, when any track jump is caused during reproduction of recorded data due to some external disturbance such as shock, the continuity of the reproduced data is maintained to prevent occurrence of any sound skip. Here, "track jump" signifies a phenomenon that a data-reading light spot of an optical pickup for reading out the recorded data while following up a record track (pit string) on a disk jumps the record track. In an ordinary CD player, a data rate for reproduction of the recorded data from a disk (hereinafter referred to as reproduction data rate) is equal to a data rate for outputting the audio data (hereinafter referred to as output data rate). However, in any conventional shock-proof type CD player, a disk is driven at a higher rotation speed which is twice the normal speed in an ordinary CD player, so that the data are read at a reproduction data rate higher than that in the ordinary CD player and, while the read data thus obtained are stored temporarily in a bulk memory of a large capacity, the stored data are read from the bulk memory at the same output data rate as in the ordinary CD player. And when there occurs a track jump during data reproduction, the data-reading light spot of the optical pickup is returned to the position immediately before occurrence of such a track jump, and the data reproduction is resumed from that position while the reproduced audio data obtained after resumption of the reproduction are linked, by utilizing the stored data in the bulk memory, to the preceding audio data reproduced immediately before occurrence of the track jump, whereby the continuity of the reproduced audio data is maintained to consequently prevent generation of any sound skip. Furthermore, in the known construction where the normal rotation speed of a disk is twice the velocity in an ordinary CD player, each of servo systems for focus, tracking, sled and spindle control is kept in operation, and when the data quantity stored in the bulk memory has exceeded a preset value, the result of monitoring the stored data quantity is detected as an overflow, and then a reverse jump of, e.g., one track is repeated in a standby state. EP-A-0469579 discloses an optical disk recording apparatus which is capable of recording at different plural line speeds without using a plurality of kinds of optical disks. US-A-4,796,247 discloses a compact disk (CD) player capable of repositioning the optical scanning system, during an external shock or vibration, by accelerating to rapidly fill the write-read memory by increasing an operating clock rate white maintaining constant the read-out rate from the write-read memory. As described, in the conventional shock-proof type CD player of the above construction, a disk is normally driven to rotate at a high speed and each servo system is kept in operation, so that the power consumption is naturally increased, and this problem is considered to be a disadvantage particularly in a portable CD player where low power consumption is requisite. OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a disk player which is adapted to achieve low power consumption and is capable of maintaining the continuity of reproduced data despite occurrence of any track jump. To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a disk player comprising a signal processor means for processing a reproduced signal obtained from a disk, then detecting the speed difference between the rotation speed of the disk and a desired rotation speed thereof, and outputting a speed control signal corresponding to the detected speed difference, a reference clock signal generator for generating a reference clock signal, a bulk memory of a large capacity for storing date read from the disk and a control means for detecting a track jump during a reproduction mode wherein said control means sets the speed control means in a high speed mode when detecting a track jump, a voltage control oscillator means for supplying an oscillation output as a system clock signal to the signal processor means, wherein the frequency of the oscillation output is varied in accordance with the speed control signal, and a speed control means for detecting the phase difference between the oscillation output and a reference clock signal, and controlling the rotation speed of the disk in accordance with the detected phase difference, and a selector means, driven by the control means, for selecting either the oscillation output or the reference clock signal and supplying the selected one as a system clock signal to the signal processor means. According to an aspect of the invention, the speed control means comprises a first frequency divider means for dividing the frequency of the oscillation output at a variable ratio, a second frequency divider means for dividing the frequency of the reference clock signals at a variable ratio, and a phase comparator means for detecting the phase difference between the respective outputs of the first and second frequency divider means by comparing the phases of such two outputs with each other. In the disk player according to the present invention, the frequency of the output from an oscillator means is controlled in accordance with a disk speed control signal, while the oscillation output is supplied as a system clock signal to a signal processor means. And the disk rotation speed is controlled on the basis of the phase difference between the oscillation output and the reference clock signal, whereby the system clock signal is so changed that the speed control signal becomes zero. Consequently, when a play mode is selectively switched between 1-fold speed play and 2-fold speed play, the spindle servo system can be locked even during the transition period of the rotation speed, so that the data are readable during such period as well. In this shock-proof disk player, therefore, the 2-fold speed play mode is selected only at the occurrence of any track jump caused by external disturbance such as shock, and data charge into the bulk memory is performed rapidly, whereas the 1-fold speed play mode is selected at any other time to thereby realize wide reduction of the power consumption in the disk player. In the disk player representing a further aspect of the invention, the output of an oscillator means and a reference clock signal are frequency-divided at variable ratios, and the disk rotation speed is controlled in accordance with the phase difference between the frequency-divided outputs. Meanwhile the play mode is selectively settable to either 1-fold speed play or 2-fold speed play (or a higher multiple of speed, if desired) by adequately selecting each frequency division ratio. Also in the disk player of the invention, the output of the oscillator means is selected for rough control of the disk rotation speed, and subsequently the reference clock signal is selected after the disk rotation speed is stabilized posterior to arrival thereof at a preset desired velocity, whereby signal synchronization can be achieved with a digital-to-analog converter to eventually deliver a satisfactory audio output without any wow or flutter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a control system corresponding to an embodiment of the present invention applied to a shock-proof CD player. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter some preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an examplary embodiment representing a control system applied to, e.g., a shock-proof CD player. In this diagram, a disk (CD) 1 is driven by a spindle motor 2, and recorded data are read from the disk 1 by an optical pickup (hereinafter referred to simply as pickup) 3. The pickup 3 comprises a laser diode 4; an objective lens 5 for converging a laser beam, which is emitted from the laser diode 4, to form a data-reading light spot on the signal plane of the disk 1; a polarized beam splitter 6 for changing the travel direction of the laser beam reflected from the disk 1; and a photo detector 7 for receiving the reflected laser beam. The pickup 3 is displaced in the radial direction of the disk by a driving source such as a sled feed motor (not shown). The pickup 3 further comprises, although not shown, a tracking actuator for displacing the data-reading light spot to a record track on the disk 1 in the radial direction of the disk, and a focus actuator for moving the objective lens 5 along its optical axis. The output signal of the pickup 3 is supplied to an I-V (current-voltage) amplifier 8 where the current signal is converted into a voltage signal, which is waveform-shaped in an RF equalizer 9 and then is supplied to a DSP (digital signal processor) 10. Now a description will be given on how the signal is processed in the DSP 10. First in a PLL asymmetry corrector 11, a binary signal is obtained with execution of asymmetry correction, and successive clock pulses are generated by a PLL (phase-locked loop) structure in synchronism with the edge of the binary signal. Here, "asymmetry" signifies a state where the center of the eye pattern of the RF signal deviates from the center of the amplitude. Subsequently, EFM (eight-to-fourteen modulation) data are demodulated in an EFM demodulator 12, whereby digital audio data and an error correction-detection parity code are obtained, and simultaneously the subcode recorded immediately after the frame sync signal is also demodulated. The subcode thus demodulated in the EFM demodulator 12 is supplied via a subcode processor 13 to a controller 20 which consists of a CPU. The data after the EFM demodulation are once stored in a RAM 14, and error correction is executed in an error corrector 15 on the basis of the error correction-detection parity code. Then the error-corrected data are deinterleaved in a deinterleaver 16 so that the data are decoded from CIRC (cross interleave Reed-Solomon code). The DSP 10 executes various signal processes on the basis of a system clock signal obtained from a clock generator 17. The data processed in the DSP 10 are once stored in a bulk RAM 23 of a large capacity via a RAM control signal processor 22. The data thus stored in the bulk RAM 23 are read out therefrom via the RAM control signal processor 22 at the normal output data rate in an ordinary CD player. And after being filtered through a digital filter 24, the data are converted into analog data in a D-A converter 25 and then are delivered as audio outputs of left (L) and right (R) channels. The bulk RAM 23 is used for preventing a sound skip by maintaining the continuity of the reproduced audio data when any track jump has occurred during a reproduction mode due to some external disturbance such as shock. Occurrence of a track jump is detected by the controller 20. More specifically, the controller 20 always monitors the subcode supplied from the subcode processor 13, and detects occurrence of a track jump by recognizing the discontinuity of a time code included in the subcode. Upon occurrence of a track jump, the data-reading light spot of the pickup 3 is returned, under control of the controller 20, to the position immediately before the track jump, and then the data reproduction is resumed from that position. Furthermore, under control of the RAM control signal processor 22, the audio data reproduced posterior to resumption of the reproduction are linked to the audio data reproduced immediately before occurrence of the track jump and stored in the bulk memory 23. The DSP 10 further comprises a spindle servo signal processor 18 which detects the speed difference between the rotation speed of the disk 1 and a desired rotation speed thereof on the basis of a reproduced frame sync signal obtained from the disk 1 and then outputs a servo error signal (speed control signal) representing the detected speed difference. An optical-unit servo signal processor 26 is employed for controlling each of servo systems relative to the operation of the pickup 3, i.e., a tracking servo system for enabling the data-reading light spot to follow the record track on the disk 1, a focus servo system for continuously focusing the light spot on the signal plane of the disk 1, and a sled servo system for controlling the position of the pickup 3 in the radial direction of the disk. The servo error signal from the spindle servo signal processor 18 is supplied as a control signal to a VCO (voltage-controlled oscillator) 88 via an LPF (low pass filter) 87. And an oscillation output of the VCO 88 is supplied as one input to a changeover switch 89. A fixed clock signal of, e.g., 16.9344 MHz (44.1 kHz x 384) generated from a crystal oscillator 90 is supplied as another input to the changeover switch 89, which is selectively changed under control of the controller 20. Therefore the switch 89 selects either the oscillation output of the VCO 88 or the fixed clock signal of 16.9344 MHz and then supplies the selected one to a clock generator 17. The clock generator 17 generates a system clock signal of a fixed frequency in response to the fixed clock signal supplied from the crystal oscillator 90, or generates a system clock signal of a frequency variable in accordance with the oscillation output of the VCO 88 supplied thereto. The oscillation output of the VCO 88 is inputted to a 1/M frequency divider 91 where the frequency is divided into 1/M, and the frequency-divided signal is supplied as one input to a phase comparator 92. Meanwhile the fixed clock signal obtained from the crystal oscillator 90 is inputted to a 1/N frequency divider 93 where the frequency is divided into 1/N, and the frequency-divided signal serving as a reference clock signal is supplied as another input to the phase comparator 92. Each of M and N is a variable and can be set to an adequate numerical value by the controller 20. The phase comparator 92 detects the phase difference between the respective outputs of the 1/M frequency divider 91 and the 1/N frequency divider 93, and produces a phase difference signal corresponding to the detected phase difference. The phase difference signal is supplied via an LPF 94 to a spindle driver 95 so as to serve as a driving signal for the spindle motor 2. The fixed clock signal outputted from the crystal oscillator 90 is supplied to the RAM control signal processor 22, the digital filter 24 and the D-A converter 25 so as to be used for signal processing therein. In the shock-proof CD player having the above-described construction, when the fixed clock signal from the crystal oscillator 90 is selected by the switch 89, the frequency of the system clock signal is fixed at 16.9344 MHz. Meanwhile, when the frequency-divided output of the VCO 88 is selected by the switch 89, the system clock signal is so changed that the servo error signal outputted from the servo signal processor 18 becomes zero. More specifically, even if the rotation speed of the disk 1 is relatively loose, the system clock signal is changed in compliance with the disk rotation speed. This signifies that the center frequency of the PLL in a PLL asymmetry corrector 11 is changed in compliance with the rotation speed of the disk 1, whereby the phase is lockable to any varied rotation speed in a wide range. In other words, differing from the conventional data reproducing circuit where the system clock frequency is fixed and the spindle servo system so functions as to equalize the rotation speed of the disk 1 to a preset reference speed, the construction of the present invention mentioned above is contrived to execute a spindle servo control action in such a manner that the data reproducing circuit follows any rotation speed. In a state where the oscillation output of the VCO 88 is selected by the switch 89, the play speed of the disk 1 is settable to a desired rate by properly selecting adequate numerical values of M and N in the 1/M frequency divider 91 and the 1/N frequency divider 93 respectively. When M = N for example, the output frequency of the 1/M frequency divider 91 and that of the 1/N frequency divider 93 are equal to each other, so that the data reproduction is performed approximately at a 1-fold speed. Regarding the oscillation output frequency Fa of the VCO 88 and the fixed clock frequency Fb of the crystal oscillator 90, there exists the following relationship. Fa = (M/N) · Fb When M/N = 2, the oscillation output frequency Fa of the VCO 88 is twice the fixed clock frequency Fb of the crystal oscillator 90, so that the data reproduction is performed at a 2-fold speed. Since required control of the rotation speed of the disk 1 may be relatively rough as described before, in case the rotation speed of the disk 1 is changed within a certain range that the VCO 88 can follow, it is possible to execute proper RF demodulation continuously. For this purpose, the numerical values of M and N in the 1/M frequency divider 91 and the 1/N frequency divider 93 may be continuously changed by the controller 20. Normally the numerical values of M and N in the 1/M frequency divider 91 and the 1/N frequency divider 93 are set as M = N by the controller 20 to thereby select 1-fold speed play. And upon occurrence of a track jump due to an external disturbance such as shock, the numerical values are changed as M/N = 2 to select 2-fold high speed play. More specifically, the subcode is always monitored during 1-fold speed play, and occurrence of a track jump is recognized in response to detection of the discontinuity of a time code included in the subcode, whereby the operation is switched to 2-fold speed play immediately. It is to be noted here that the reproduction rate in a high speed play mode is not limited to a 2-fold speed alone. Upon occurrence of a track jump, the controller 20 executes its control action for first searching the last subcode with respect to the continuity, then returning the pickup 3 to the position immediately before the track jump, and resuming the data reproduction from that position, while further controlling the RAM control signal processor 22 to link the reproduced audio data to that position. The reason for selection of 2-fold speed play upon occurrence of a track jump will now be described below. When a 4-Mbit memory for example is used as the bulk RAM 23, the rate of charging the bulk RAM 23 with the data is equal to the difference between the rate of writing the data in the bulk RAM 23 and the rate of reading the data therefrom, i.e., (2-fold rate - 1-fold rate). Since the data recorded on the disk 1 are composed of digital signals sampled at a frequency of 44.1 kHz and quantized with linear 16-bit strings, a time of approximately three seconds is required for charging the bulk RAM 23 as follows: 4,194,304 bits/(44.1 kHz x 2 (L,H) x 16) bits x 1 = 2.97 [sec] The above time of approximately three seconds indicates a period during which sound can be reproduced without any interruption if no data is reproduced from the disk 1 due to occurrence of a track jump. This time period raises substantially no problem in practical use, and it is determined by the storage capacity of the bulk RAM 23 and the play speed (2-fold speed in this embodiment), i.e., reproduction data rate in a high speed mode. And during such a period of three seconds, there are executed a linking process for maintaining the continuity of the reproduced audio data and an operation of charging the bulk RAM 23 with the data. If an overflow signal is outputted from the RAM control signal processor 22 during data reproduction in a 2-fold speed play mode, the controller 20 switches the reproduction to a 1-fold speed play mode in response to the overflow signal. When the data reproduction is performed in a 2-fold speed play mode, the rate of writing the data into the bulk RAM 23 is higher than the rate of reading out the data therefrom, so that the bulk RAM 23 is soon caused to overflow. It is therefore necessary to always monitor the data quantity stored in the bulk RAM 23. The operation of monitoring the data quantity in the bulk RAM 23 is performed in the RAM control signal processor 22. More specifically, the RAM control signal processor 22 recognizes the last address of the data written in the bulk RAM 23 as a definite address, and also recognizes the address of the read data as an address 0, and then feeds the recognized definite address to the controller 20. Further the RAM control signal processor 22 monitors the data quantity on the basis of such definite address, and supplies an overflow signal to the controller 20 when the data quantity has exceeded a preset value. The controller 20 recognizes the definite address, which is obtained from the RAM control signal processor 22, as a definite subcode in correspondence to the subcode. When the data reproduction is switched from a 1-fold speed play mode to a 2-fold speed play mode or vice versa, the controller 20 selects the fixed clock signal of the crystal oscillator 90 by changing the switch 89 upon arrival of the rotation speed of the disk 1 at the desired preset speed. Consequently, there is attained a synchronism with the signal of the D-A converter 25, hence delivering a satisfactory audio output without wow or flutter. In an ordinary CD player, an acceleration voltage or a deceleration voltage is applied from the spindle driver 95 to the spindle motor 2 for controlling the rotation speed of the disk 1 to keep the same at the desired preset speed. And when the rotation speed of the disk 1 has reached approximately the preset speed, predetermined voltage is applied to achieve a locked state. It is defined here that the acceleration voltage is positive to the above predetermined voltage, while the deceleration voltage is negative to the above predetermined voltage. However, in the shock-proof CD player of the present invention, rough control is sufficient for the spindle servo system as mentioned, so that it becomes possible to widely cut the deceleration component of the phase comparator 92 by the spindle driver 95 and to apply the predetermined voltage at the time of deceleration. Due to such a contrivance, the energy consumption in driving the spindle motor 2 can be suppressed by an amount corresponding to the cut deceleration component, whereby the power consumption of the CD player can be eventually reduced. Although the embodiment described above represents an exemplary application to a shock-proof CD player, the present invention is effectively applicable to an ordinary CD player as well for the purpose of reading the data even when the rotation speed of the disk 1 is unstable, hence realizing fast access. It is also to be understood that, in addition to the above example applied to a CD player, the present invention can be appropriately applied to any other disk player designed for reproduction of data from MD, CD-ROM or the like. According to the present invention, as mentioned hereinabove, the output frequency of the VCO (oscillator means) is controlled in response to a speed control signal for a disk, while the oscillator output is supplied as a system clock signal to the signal processor, and the disk rotation speed is controlled in accordance with the phase difference between the oscillator output and the reference clock signal. whereby the system clock signal is so changed that the speed control signal becomes zero. Therefore, when the play mode is switched from a 1-fold speed to a 2-fold speed or vice versa, the spindle servo system can be locked even during a transition period of the rotation speed, whereby the data can be read out properly from the disk even during such a period. Consequently, in a shock-proof disk player, its play mode is switched to a 2-fold speed only upon occurrence of a track jump caused by some external disturbance such as shock, and a fast operation of charging the bulk memory with the reproduced data is performed immediately, but a normal 1-fold speed is selected at any other time, so that the power consumption in the disk player is widely reducible, and the continuity of the reproduced data can be maintained exactly despite occurrence of any track jump. Furthermore, the spindle servo system is kept free from an unlocked state, and the reproduced data can be stored in the bulk memory even during the transition period of the rotation speed. Therefore it is not necessary to employ a particular bulk memory of an extraordinarily great storage capacity, and a low-cost memory is sufficient to meet the requirements to eventually realize curtailment in the production cost of the shock-proof disk player. In the present invention where the oscillation output of the VCO and the reference clock signal are frequency-divided respectively at variable ratios, the disk rotation speed is controlled on the basis of the phase difference between the frequency-divided outputs, so that the data reproduction speed can be set to any of 1-fold, 2-fold and higher speeds by adequately selecting proper frequency-division ratios. Also in the present invention where a selector means is provided for selecting either the oscillation output of the VCO or the reference clock signal, first the output of the VCO is selected for rough control of the disk rotation speed, and subsequently the reference clock signal is selected after arrival of the disk rotation speed at a desired preset velocity, whereby a synchronism is attained with the signal of the D-A converter to thereby deliver a satisfactory audio output without wow or flutter.

Claims: A disk player comprising : a signal processor means (10) for processing a reproduced signal obtained from a disk (1), then detecting the speed difference between the rotation speed of the disk and a desired rotation speed thereof, and outputting a speed control signal corresponding to the detected speed difference; a reference clock signal generator (90) for generating a reference clock signal; a bulk memory (23) of a large capacity for storing data read from the disk (1); and a control means (20) for detecting a track jump during a reproduction mode; wherein said control means sets said speed control signal in a high speed mode when detecting a track jump, characterized in that said disk player further comprises a voltage control oscillator means (88) for supplying an oscillation output as a system clock signal to said signal processor means (10), wherein the frequency (Fa) of said oscillation output is varied in accordance with said speed control signal; a speed control means (91-93) for detecting the phase difference between said oscillation output and a reference clock signal, and controlling the rotation speed of the disk (1) in accordance with the detected phase difference; and a selector means (89) driven by said control means, for selecting either said oscillation output or said reference clock signal and supplying the selected one as a system clock signal to said signal processor means (10). The disk player according to claim 1, further comprising a memory control means (22) for monitoring the data quantity stored in said bulk memory (23) and outputting an overflow signal when the data quantity has exceeded a preset value, said control means (20) setting said speed control means in a low speed mode when said overflow signal is outputted. The disk player according to claim 1, wherein said speed control means comprises a first frequency divider means (91) for dividing the frequency (Fa) of said oscillation output at a variable ratio (M); a second frequency divider means (93) for dividing the frequency (Fb) of said reference clock signals at a variable ratio (N); and a phase comparator means (92) for detecting the phase difference between the respective outputs of said first and second frequency divider means (91, 93) by comparing the phases of such two outputs with each other.

Inventors: AKITA MAMORU, SHIMIZUME KAZUTOSHI, AKITA, MAMORU, SHIMIZUME, KAZUTOSHI
Applicants: SONY CORP, SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1994
Main classification: G11B7
IPC codes: G11B7, G11B27, G11B20, G11B19